Dynamic pneumatic moting and lint cleaning brush gin



Dec. 29, 1953 J. J. WALLACE DYNAMIC PNEUMATIC MOTING AND LINT CLEANING BRUSH GIN Filed July 26, 1951 1 N VE NTOI Z afiigJW/w ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 29, 1953 DYNAMIC PNEUMATIC MOTING AND'LINT CLEANING BRUSH GIN .Ieflrey J. Wallace, Amite, La., assignor to Gullett Gin Company, a corporation of Louisiana Application July 26, 1951, SerialNo. 238,683

8 Claims. (01. 19--58) This invention relates to cotton gins of the brush type, that is, gins in which the lint is removed irom the saws by a revolving brush, as contrasted with lint removal by an air blast.

The general object of the invention is to improve the moting efficiency of such gins by employing a high velocity air blast to sweep over the wisps of lint carried by the teeth of the saws to dislodge and sweep thereirom the motes which are adherent to the lint when it emerges from between the ginning ribs. Since such an air blast must be directed chordally with respect to the saws and not circumferentially, to avoid detaching the lint from the saw teeth, it is essential that it blow between the saws. It is an object of the invention to provide a manifold noszle extending the width of the saw cylinder, provided with openings individual to the spaces between the saws and in register with said spaces, providing a series of downwardly directed high velocity jets substantially tangent to the spacers between the saws, confined inwardly of the peripheries of the saws and leading to the mouth of an underlying mote collector under suction, into which the motes, together with the vehicle air are drawn, avoiding turbulence.

It is inherent in the brush type gin that the rotation of the brush creates suction in the region of lint removal, which suction would tend to draw the high velocity mote laden jets toward the adjacent peripheries of the saws and contaminate the lint with motes from said jets. Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide an atmospheric air inlet above the manifold nozzle, communicating with the-region of lint removal between the brush and said mote laden jets, through which clean air is drawn by said suction, relieving the vacuum so that said jets are not deflected, and providing a bufier curtain of mote free air between said jets and brush which extends downward beyond the point at which the removed lint enters the lint duct.

A further object of the invention is to so construct the manifold nozzle that a small portion of each of the high velocity jets is displaced so as to fiow over the opposite side of the spacers of the saw cylinder, and between the ginning ribs, to agitate the seeds in the seed passage which are lying against the ginning ribs and adherent to each other and which discharge slowly due to the friction of their linty surfaces, reducing the frictional retardation and accelerating the rate of discharge of the seeds.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a practi e bodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the following specification, and throughout the figures of which the same reference characters have been employed to designate identical parts.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a brush type cotton gin embodying the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a section taken along the line 2-4 of Figure 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the numeral! represents the conventional saw cylinder carrying the spaced saws 2, which operate between the huller ribs 3 to which the boll cotton is presented by the huller drum t, the hulls and fragments of the same being for the most part excluded by the huller ribs and the cotton drawn through by the saws and supplied to the roll at the roll box 5. The saws pass between the closer set ginning ribs 6, which exclude the seed, the latter gravitatingdownward through the passage between the huller and ginning ribs. The lint is drawn through the ginning ribs in wisps looped about the saw teeth, which remain attached to the saw teeth until removed therefrom by the brushes 1 carried by the dofiing cylinder 8, which rotates at a higher peripheral speed than the saw cylinder. The dofiing cylinder operates within a casing 9, having an opening l2 at the front to give the brushes access to the adjacent side of the saw cylinder, and to provide a space below the point of lint removal which constitutes the mouth 19 of a lint duct iii defined between the lower part of the casing 9 and the dofiing cylinder 8. The rear of the casing has an opening it connected to a vacuum conduit, not shown, but which is conventional, through which the lint is drawn to suitable apparatus for condensing the lint. The upper part of the casing 9 fits sufficiently close to the brushes to prevent the suction of the vacuum conduit from being effective between the upper part of the casing and the dofiing cylinder, and whatever tendency there may be for avacuum pull within the up,- per part of the casing is offset by the direction of rotation of the dofing cylinder, which is indicated by the arrow in Figure 1.

At the point at which the saws emergefrom the ginning ribs, detached motes fly out centrifugally into the moting chamber I i. The wisps of lint that emerge, looped about the abrupt faces of the saw teeth and extending along the sides thereof, carry adherent motes. For the purpose of removing these motes air blast means is provided comprising a fiat conduit I? extending the width of the saw cylinder, having a manifold nozzle M at its lower end adjacent the saws, and so directed as to blow across the saw cylinder at such an angle as to avoid dislodging the wisps from the saw teeth. The nozzle M has perforations it in register with the spaces between the saws, as shown in Figure 2, but said nozzle is imperforate directly over the saws. This construction and arrangement produce a series'of jets which do not blow directly upon the tops of the saw teeth, which would cause turbulence, but blow through the spaces between the saws in a chordal direction with respect thereto, sweeping through and against the wisps of lint on the saws, removing most of the attached mote content. The conduit I3 and nozzle l4 derive air pressure from a pipe or manifold l6 connected to the discharge end of a blower, not shown. The air supplied may either be at atmospheric temperatureor heated. The mote laden jets from the nozzle 94 pass downwardly between the saws into the mouth of an underlying mote collector i'i, connected to a vacuum fan, not shown, by means of which the motes and vehicle air are carried ofi.

The conduit 13 and nozzle Hi are positioned between the roll box and the upper part of the casing 9. the conduit 53 being fixed by means such as the bracket 29, which is clamped to fixed structure associated with the roll box, the perforated end of the nozzle being close to the peripheries of the saws. The front wall 2! of the nozzle is fiat and substantially vertical, and forms a bafile in the moting chamber confronting the traiectories of the centrifugallv thrown motes, which strike a ainst it, lose their velocity and drop gravitationally, becoming entrained in the mote laden jets from the nozzle 54 and carried into the vacuum mote collector I? with said 3e 5.

The brushes 1 travel tangent to the peripheries of the saws at the opening l2 and at a greater speed than the saws, sweeping the lint from the saw teeth and delivering it to the mouth l9 of the lint duct into which it is sucked. The rotation of the doffing cylinder 2 creates a suction in the region of lint removal which would have the normal tendency to defiect'the mote laden jets from the nozzle [4 toward the ad acent peripheries of the saws, with the risk of contaminating the lint with motes from said jets. This same risk attends the proximity to said jets of the mouth of the lint duct.

In order to prevent lint contamination, a buffer curtain of clean air is made to flow between the mote laden jets and the brushes 7, said curtain being continuous past the region of lint removal and in front of the mouth of the lint duct.

This curtain of clean air is derived from a passage 23 formed between the casing 9 and conduit l3 and open to atmosphere at its upper end. The fiow of air is induced, in the main, by the vacuum created by the rotating cloning cylinder, and to some extent by the suction at the mouth of the lint duct.

The lower part of the casing S is provided with a sliding lip 24, the forward edge of which defines the lower end of the mouth of the lint duct. This is adjustable with reference to the mote colleca small part of the clean air curtain goes into the mote collector. This assures that no motes from the jets will get into the lint duct.

The seeds which are discharged gravitationally through the passage between the boiler and ginning ribs have a fuzzy exterior, due to adherent lint, so that they tend to cling to one another and particularly to those portions of the ginning ribs which form part of the lower wall of the roll box, and which have the least steep inclination. This clinging tendency retards the gravitational discharge of the seeds. The present invention overcomes this frictional retardation by diverting a small part of the volume of the air jets as they issue from the perforations in the nozzle hl, causing the diverted portions to blow through the ginning ribs above the saw spacers, agitating the seeds. This diversion is accomplished by means of the angular deflector 27, which extends the full length of the nozzle i i, being secured thereto, the lower lip of which deflector extends partially beneath the perforations l5, and at a lower level. Since the air is at its greatest velocity and density as it passes between the lip of the deflector and the higher forward edges of the perforations, it expands immediately upon issuance, throwing the main volume of the jets downwardly and the minor portion of said volumes over the spacers between the saws toward the upper parts of the ginning ribs. The velocity of said minor portion is relatively low as it crosses beneath the rooting chamber, and the centrifugally thrown motes are in general the larger particles, so these for the most part drop through the underlying air current and are not blown over toward the ginning ribs.

While I have in the above description disclosed what I believe to be a practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and the arrangement of parts are by way of illustration and not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder including spaced saws with spacers therebetween, ginning ribs between which said saws operate, and a clofiing cylinder with brushes rotatable in a path tangent to said saw cylinder at a point remote from said ginning ribs, a high velocity blast nozzle intermediate said ginning ribs and said point of tangency terminating substantially at the periphery of said saw cylinder having nozzle outlets individual to the spaces between the saws, said nozzle being positioned to direct jets from said nozzle outlets chordally of said saws, downward between said saws and between said spacers and said point of tangency, said jets sweeping adhered motes from the wisps of'lint carried by the saw teeth, becoming mote laden, a collector under suction below said cylinder in the path of said mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, and a deflector at the discharge end of said nozzle for directing a. portion of said jets to the opposite sides of said spacers and through said ginning ribs, for agitating the seeds which are descending gravitationally down the opposite sides or" said gin ning ribs, accelerating their discharge.

2. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder ineluding spaced saws and spacers therebetween,

ginning ribs between which said saws operate, a dofiing cylinder with brushes rotatable in a path tangent to said saw cylinder at a lint removing point remote from said ginning ribs, a

casing about said doifing cylinder open "toward said saw cylinder, the lower part of said casing defining with said doifing cylinder 2, lint duct, under suction, havingits mouth below said lint removing point, a high velocity blast nozzle ining adhered motes from the wisps oi lint carried by the saw teeth, becoming mote laden, a co1- lector under suction, below said saw cylinder in the path of said mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, and a passage open to atmosphere at its outer end and open to said gin between said nozzle and doiling point providing a buffer curtain of clean air between said rnote laden jets on one side, and said lint removing point and the mouth of said lint 1 duct on the other side, to prevent contamination of the lint by motes from said jets, the flow of said clean air being induced by rotation of said dofiing cylinder and by the suction of said lint duct.

3. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder including spaced saws with spacers therebetween, ginning ribs between which said saws operate, a dofiing cylinder with brushes rotatable in .a

path tangent to said saw cylinder at a lint removing point remote from said ginning ribs, a casing about said doffing cylinder open toward said saw cylinder, the lower part of said casing defining with said dofiing cylinder a lint duct, under suction, having its mouth below said lint removing point, a high velocity blast nozzleintermediate said ginning ribs and said lint removing point terminating substantially at the periphery of said saw cylinder having nozzle outlets individual to the spaces between the saws, said nozzle being positioned to direct jets from said nozzle outlets chordally of said saws, downward between said saws, so as to traverse the space between said spacers on the one side, and said lint removing point and mouth of said lint duct, n the other side, said jets sweeping adhered motes from the wisps of lint carried by the saw teeth, becoming mote laden, a collector under suction below said saw cylinder in the path of said mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, a flat conduit supplying air under pressure to said nozzle, and an atmospheric inlet defined between said casing and said flat conduit providing a buiier curtain of clean air between said mote laden jets on one side, and said lint removing point and the mouth of said lint duct on the other side, to prevent contamination of the lint by motes from said jets, the flow of said clean air being induced by rotation of said doiiing cylinder and by the suction of said lint duct.

4. Cotton gin as claimed in claim 3, the lower part of said casing having a lip defining the lower edge of the mouth of said lint duct, adjustable toward and away from said collector for varying the discharge path of said buffer air curtain, and means for adjusting said lip.

5. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder including spaced saws with spacers therebetween, ginning ribs between which said saws operate,

and a domng cylinder with brushes rotatable in a path tangent to said saw cylinder at a lint removing point remote from said ginning ribs, a casing about said dofilng cylinder open toward said saw cylinder, the lower part of said casing defining with said doifing cylinder a lint duct, under suction, having its mouth below said lint removing point, a high velocity blast nozzle intermediate said ginning ribs and said lint removing point terminating substantially at the periphery of said saw cylinder, having nozzle outlets individual to the spaces between the saws, the space between said nozzle and ginning ribs defining a moting chamber receiving motes centrifugally thrown as the saws emerge from said ginning ribs, the front wall of said nozzle being flat forming a bafiie confronting the trajectories of saidthrown motes at a steep angle whereby they lose velocity upon contact therewith and drop gravitationally, said nozzle being positioned to direct jets from said nozzle outlets chordally of said saws, downward between said saws so as to traverse the space between said spacers on the one side, and said lint removing point and the mouth of said lint duct, on the other side, said jets sweeping adhered motes from the wisps of lint carried by the saw teeth, becoming mote laden with these motes as well as with gravitationally descending motes from said mote chamber directly entrained or which drop on the rotating spacers, a collector under suction below said saw cylinder in the path of said mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, and a passage open at its outer end to atmosphere, and open to said gin between said nozzle and doiiing point providing a buffer curtain or clean air between said mote laden jets on one side, and said lint removing point and the mouth of said lint duct on the other side, to pr vent contamination of the lint by motes from said jets, the flow of clean air being induced by rotation of said dofiing cylinde" and by the suc- 'tion of said lint duct.

6. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder including spaced saws with spacers therebetween, ginning ribs between which said saws operate, and a dofling cylinder with brushes rotatable in a path tangent to said sawcylinder at a lint removing point remote from said ginning ribs, a casing about said doffing cylinder open toward said saw cylinder, the lower part of said casing defining with said doffing cylinder a lint duct, under suction, having its mouth below said lint removing point a high velocity blast nozzle intermediate said ginning ribs and said lint removing point terminating substantially at the periphery of said saw cylinder, having nozzle outlets individual to the spaces between the saws, the space between said nozzle and ginning ribs defining a mating chamber receiving motes centriiugally thrown as the saws emerge from said ginning ribs, the front wall of said nozzle being flat forming a baffie confronting the trajectories of said thrown motes at a steep angle whereby they'lose velocity upon contact therewith and drop gravitationally, said nozzle being positioned to direct jets from said nozzle outlets chordally of said saws, downward between said saws so as to traverse the space between said spacers on the one side, and said lint removing point and the mouth of said lint duct, on the other side, said jets sweeping adhered motes from the wisps of lint carried by the saw teeth, becoming mote laden with these motes as well as with gravitationally descending motes from said mote chamber directly entrained or which drop on the rotating spacers, a collector under suction below said saw cylinder in the path of said mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, a passage open at its outer end to atmosphere, and open to saidgin between said nozzle and doffing point providing a buffer curtain of clean air between said mote laden jets on one side, and said lint removing point and the mouth of said lint duct on the other side, to prevent contamination of the lint by motes from said jets, the flow of clean air being induced by rotation of said doffing cylinder and by the suction of said lint duct, and a deflector at the discharge end of said nozzle for directing a portion of said jets to the opposite sides of said spacers and through said ginning ribs for agitating the seeds which are descending gravitationally down the opposite sides of said ginning ribs, accelerating their discharge.

7. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder including spaced saws with spacers therebetween, ginning ribs between which said saws operate, and dofiing means operating at a doffing point on said cylinder remote from said ginning ribs, a high velocity blast nozzle intermediate said ginning ribs and said dofiing point terminating substantially at the periphery of said saw cylinder having nozzle outlets individual to the spaces between the saws, said nozzle being positioned to direct jets from said nozzle outlets chordally of said saws, downward between said saws and between the spacers and said dofiing point, said jets sweeping adhered motes from the wisps of lint carried by the saw teeth, becoming mote laden, a collector under suction below said cylinder in the path of the mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, and a deflector at the discharge end of said nozzle for directing a portion of said jets to the opposite sides of said spacers and through said ginning ribs, for agitating the seeds which are descending gravitationally down the opposite sides of said ginning ribs, accelerating their discharge.

8. Cotton gin comprising a saw cylinder including spaced saws with spacers therebetween, ginning ribs between which said saws operate, doffing means operating at a point on said saw cylinder remote from said ginning ribs, a lint duct under suction having its mouth below said doffing point, said doffing means including a casing, a high velocity blast nozzle intermediate said ginning ribs and said doffing point terminating substantially at the periphery of said saw cylinder having nozzle outlets individual to the spaces between the saws, said nozzle being positioned to direct jets from said nozzle outlets chordally of said saws, downward between said saws so as to traverse the space between said spacers on the one side and said doffing point and the mouth of said lint duct on the other side, said jets sweeping adhered motes from the wisps of lint carried by the saw teeth, and becoming mote laden, a collector under suction below said saw cylinder in the path of said mote laden jets for withdrawing said jets with their mote content, a fiat conduit supplying air under pressure to said nozzle, and an atmospheric air inlet defined between said casing and said flat conduit providing a buffer curtain of clean air between said mote laden jets on one side, and said dotting point and the mouth of said lint duct on the other side, to prevent contamination of the lint by motes from said jets, the flow of clean air being induced at least in part by the suction of said lint duct.

JEFFREY J. WALLACE.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 202,927 Burt Apr. 30, 1878 723,035 Ruth Mar.17, 1903 1,642,982 Willis Sept. 20, 1927 1,725,268 Hancock Aug. 20, 1929 2,253,456 Wallace Aug. 19, 1941 

